Elusive chess genius captured after 10-year hunt

Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has been arrested in Japan by immigration authorities, capping a more than decade-long hunt by US authorities for the elusive legend.

Fischer, who is wanted by the US for attending a 1992 chess match in Yugoslavia in violation of international sanctions, was stopped at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport on Tuesday, an airport immigration spokesman said.

Fischer was trying to travel to the Philippines.

He was detained for allegedly using an invalid US passport and officials were preparing to deport him to the US. Japan and the United States share an extradition treaty.

Fischer shot to fame in 1972 when he won an epic Cold War battle against Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union to become the first American to win the world title.

In the three decades since that match, the eccentric chess prodigy slipped mysteriously in and out of public view.

He resurfaced for a dramatic rematch against Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992, beating him 10-5 to win £2m (€3m).

But he disappeared again as US authorities accused him of violating UN sanctions imposed against Yugoslavia by playing the match. The sanctions were imposed on Yugoslavia for the war in neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Fischer, indicted by a grand jury in 1992, had eluded authorities since, leaving a tantalising trail of clues to his whereabouts via radio broadcasts from the Philippines, sightings in Japan and the occasional overseas interview.

A chess prodigy, Fischer became a grandmaster at 15 and was the world chess champion from 1972 until 1975.

Despite his legendary chess skills, he has become increasingly known for his vitriolic outbursts and bizarre personal behaviour.

In radio interviews, he praised the September 11 terrorist attacks, saying America should be “wiped out,” and described Jews as “thieving, lying bastards”. His mother was Jewish.

He also announced that he had abandoned chess in 1996 and launched a new version in Argentina, claiming it would bring the fun back into the game and rid it of cheats.

Miyoko Watai, a Japan Chess Association official who said she was a long-time friend of Fischer, said he discovered when he was detained that the US had revoked his passport.

Watai, who said she had spoken with Fischer, 61 since his detention, added that he was told he would be extradited, but that he would appeal.